Radio Control Pylon Racing - 2012/02

February 2012 113
This shows the nose section of the Dave
Norman-designed Seeker kit. Lonnie Finch
discusses his building techniques to improve
the strength of modern Q-500 kits.
Winners of the 2011 NMPRA Championship Race in Fort Lauderdale FL: (L-R
standing) Gary Schmidt (4th), Ray Brown (3rd), John McDermott (6th); (L to R kneeling)
Joe Tropea (caller), Jim Allen (1st), Lee VonDerHey (5th and Fast Time). Not pictured:
Randy Bridge (2nd).
The author reconnects with his roots
[[email protected]]
Radio Control Pylon Racing Aaron “AJ” Seaholm
Also included in this column:
• KCRC Fall Pylon Races
• Airframe building tips
A group photo from the Kansas City Radio Control club’s Fall Q-500 Pylon Race.
I MADE the 700-mile, one-way trip to Kansas City, Missouri, the
first weekend of October 2011, for the Kansas City Radio Control
(KCRC) Fall Pylon Races. The KCRC was my home club for many
years. A group of us helped get Pylon Racing going again and this
event holds a special place in my heart.
The two-day gathering features Q-500 AMA Events 424 and
426. The heats are flown on the AMA short course, which measures
475.5 feet from Pylons Two and Three to Pylon One. You may hear
this layout referred to as the 2-mile course because that is the
distance covered in 10 laps of racing.
After a long break (I hadn’t raced since May), and knowing the
MOKAN crew had been hitting every race within a 600-mile radius,
I decided to gear up a composite Chuck Bridge-built Vortex to help
my odds in 426.
After several 426 races with my Great Planes ready-to-cover
(RTC) Viper, I figured flying both airframes the same weekend
could also provide some interesting data for comparison of
composite vs. non-composite times in 426. I will cover that
comparison in the next section.
The KCRC race is flown as two separate one-day races with a
02sig4.QXD_00MSTRPG.QXD 12/16/11 4:41 PM Page 113cumulative Fast Time trophy. On Saturday,
there were 18 registered 424 pilots and 13
registered 426 pilots. The day was gorgeous
with light winds and temperatures in the low
70s.
The racing was tight and competitive all
day. Event co-CD, Duane Hulen, was
unstoppable Saturday and put together six
rounds of first-place finishes. Duane posted
his quickest time for the day: 1:21.42. Mike
Tallman and Mo Vereecke were tied, only
one point back.
Mike won the flyoff and finished second
with the quickest time of the day at 1:19.95.
Mo finished in third place with a time of
1:22.43, followed by his teammate, Lonnie
Finch, with 1:21.87. Jesse Casteel rounded
out the top five. Jesse recently jumped back
into Pylon and is hard to beat.
The 426 (Sport Jett engines) races were
as competitive as the 424 (Thunder Tiger
.40 engines) heats. After six rounds of
racing and dropping three points to hardfought
races, I secured first place and fast
time for the day with a time of 1:03.89. I
flew my Vortex on Saturday and friend Ken
VanTuyl supported me both days with his
calling services.
I admit that Lonnie, Mo, and Duane each
took a heat, knocking me down a point each.
This was bittersweet because I would like to
think they learned a few things from me
throughout the years. On the other hand,
give me a break! I taught you every darn
thing I know. Beat the snot out of someone
else next time!
In all seriousness, racing is about the
people, and seeing competitors reach their
potential is rewarding. I’m proud to race
against, get beat by, and call all these
competitors my friends. The caliber of
competition in this region is exceptional.
The sportsmanship, camaraderie, and the
willingness to help out a fellow racer are the
key elements to sustaining a local racing
series. The good of the series and bringing
in new blood must take precedence over
winning.
Back to the coverage: Mo Vereecke and
Lonnie Finch tied for second place in the
426 class on Saturday. Lonnie lost his Ninja
to bad air while chasing his teammate in the
flyoff. This spectacular dirt nap locked Mo
into a second-place finish with a 1:05.04,
followed by Lonnie in third with a 1:04.00.
Jim Nikodem finished in fourth with a
1:08.38 over longtime Kansas City-area
racer Gordon McWilliams, who posted a
1:12.54.
Saturday night was highlighted by a
fantastic barbecue brisket dinner cooked by
Dan Ulledahl and his wife, Sarah. The food
was amazing and there were a few cold
beverages consumed as the racers recapped
an action-packed day.
Sunday dawned with more fantastic
weather. The turnout was lower on Sunday,
with pilot totals of 13 and 11 for 424 and
426, respectively. Five rounds were flown in
each class to allow travelers to get on the
road by early afternoon.
Mo Vereecke finished with a perfect 20-
point score at the top of the pack with a best
time of 1:22.29. Lonnie Finch and Mike
Tallman tied for second place. Lonnie
bested Mike in the flyoff and also took the
Fast Time trophy. Lonnie laid down a
1:18.77 on Sunday to capture the overall
Fast Time trophy for the weekend.
Ben Hobbs from Wichita, Kansas,
secured a fourth-place finish with a best
time of 1:26.49. Scott Hartman from Texas
came in fifth with a 1:27.32. Scott has been
a great supporter of the MOKAN series and
has traveled many miles to attend these
races.
Lonnie Finch won the 426 event on
Sunday with a perfect score and 1:07.89
quick time for the day. Second place went to
Mo Vereecke with a 1:06.70 and one point
down. Mike Tallman finished in third with a
1:12.53, followed by yours truly in fourth
place. Scott Hartman finished out a good
day with another fifth-place finish to
accompany him during the long haul back to
Texas.
The KCRC club members delivered a
well-run and fun event. I do not believe
there was a single refly the entire weekend.
My personal thanks goes out to co-CD Craig
White and the rest of the KCRC crew. It was
an enjoyable weekend of hard racing andhanging out with old friends. I look forward
to attending this race again next year.
The Fall KCRC Q-500 races were the fifth
and sixth races I’ve flown in the new Super
Sport Quickie class—AMA Event 426, or
simply 426.
In the first four races, I flew my
UltraCote-covered Viper with a woodsheeted
foam wing and fiberglass-covered
fuselage. Those races were flown at three
different fields with either the 8.8 x 8.5 or
8.8 x 8.75 APC propellers. At each of those
races my quickest time was in the 1:06
range. My teammate was either Ken Van
Tuyl or Scott Causey.
During the competition on Saturday at
the fall KCRC race, I flew my Chuck
Bridge-built Vortex. After getting a little
rust off in the first heat, I posted two heats
at 1:05.3, running the 8.8 x 8.75 APC
propeller. Based on this, I thought I could
safely conclude that the smooth finish,
concealed control horns, skinned hinges,
and composite airframe were
approximately 1 second faster than the
RTC Viper.
In Round Four, Lonnie Finch convinced
me to try the 8.75 x 8.5 N APC propeller. I
had used this propeller at the 2010 AMA
Nats in Q-500 AMA Event 428 and liked
the performance. The change in propeller
and a hard-fought heat dropped my best
time down to a 1:03.89, nearly 1.5 seconds
faster than the previous two heats with the
8.8 x 8.75.
On Sunday I flew my RTC Viper, and
even with the 8.75 x 8.5 N propellers I was
not able to go faster than a 1:06.5. The
overall times by Sunday’s quickest 426
pilots were roughly a second or so slower
than Saturday’s times. The 1:06.5 was the
fastest time posted on Sunday.
Based on the times flown with the 8.8 x
8.75 APC propellers throughout the four
prior races, I believe the $100 Viper is
roughly 1 second slower than the $700
Vortex. The 8.75 x 8.5 N propellers added
another variable that I am not sure about at
this point. It could be that the cleaner
composite airframe was better suited for the
heavier load of this propeller, or the air just
wasn’t as good on Sunday.
The 426-class flown on the AMA 2-mile
short course limits the advantage of a
composite airframe. There is a slight
advantage, but unless you are competing at
the highest level of national racing, the
minor advantage may not justify the
additional cost. In the majority of heats at the
local level, the airframe advantage can easily
be overcome with smooth, tight, and
consistent flying by a team that does not
make mistakes.
But why did I win with the Vortex and
take fourth with the Viper? My fourth-place
finish on Sunday had nothing to do with the
Viper airframe. I was greedy and leaned too
hard on the motor, resulting in a flameout
and a zero.
I realize this is not the most scientific
study ever printed, but hope it helps up-andcoming racers decide when the time is right
to upgrade gear. I think until you are
consistently within 1 to 2 seconds of the
fastest pilots, the advantage of a moreexpensive
model will not improve your
finishes.
There are other benefits of a composite
airframe. Build time is greatly reduced and
the consistency between models is
improved. You get what you pay for, but in
the case of 426, don’t expect your times to
instantaneously drop 5 seconds.
Quickie Fuselage Building Tips: Lonnie
Finch shared his secret to building a
straight, strong, yet lightweight, Quickie
airframe. As with most things in Pylon
Racing, there are several different ways to
get there. I will share a few things that have
worked for me in the short time I have been
building.
Most kits produced today have laser-cut,
tab-’n-lock construction, which helps create
a straight airframe. It is possible to get the
sides of the fuselage off if you rush through
the assembly process. Take your time and
double-check the alignment of everything
before you put that first drop of glue on the
assembly.
Tab-’n-lock construction also helps with
the strength of the airframe, but there is
more you can do to make it stronger. Twoareas that need to be strong for straight
tracking and fast flying are the firewall
and tail section.
I will start with the firewall. Without
a strong firewall, you will not be able to
transfer all of your engine’s power to
the airframe. I have settled on a couple
of things that I feel are necessary for a
strong firewall.
First, I mix some epoxy with chopped
fiberglass or carbon, throw in some
CAB-O-SIL or microballoons to thicken
the epoxy, and make some fillets in the
eight corners of the nose section, fromthe firewall back to the first former. I use
the same mixture to make fillets around
the wing hold-down and landing gear
blocks.
Second, I take a piece of .75-ounce
fiberglass cloth and wrap the nose section
back to the LE of the wing in one piece. I
lay it on the firewall and fold it back along
all four sides of the airframe; this ties
everything together and makes it nearly
impossible to pull the firewall out.
Next is the tail section. If the torque
rods for the elevators are spread out too
far, you will have to remove fuselage side
material for them to function, which
weakens the aft section of the fuselage.
Try to keep the torque rods as close
together as possible. I like to add Dave
Brown Carbon Fiber Strips to each side of
the fuselage.
Seeker kits have a former in front of the
tail and I run the carbon-fiber strip from
just behind that to roughly an inch from
the end of the fuselage side. This is a thin
piece that helps with the twisting of the tail
section and provides extra support forthose less-than-perfect landings and the
downward pressure imparted by your
caller. Some people use the carbon-fiber
veil or fiberglass and apply that to the
entire fuselage side on the inside. I don’t
think it’s necessary.
There are many ways to build a light,
strong, straight airframe. These are just a
couple of techniques that work for me.
The results of the 2011 National Miniature
Pylon Racing Association (NMPRA)
Championship Race have been announced.
Congratulations to Jim Allen and caller
Gary Schmidt, for winning the 2011
NMPRA Championship Race held in Fort
Lauderdale, Florida, in November. Randy
Bridge took second place after a flyoff with
Jim. “Rocket” Ray Brown, who finished in
third place.
Gary Schmidt took fourth, followed by
fifth-place finisher and Fast Time recipient
Lee VonDerHey, who posted a smokingfast
time of 59.66. John McDermott
finished in sixth place.
Have fun; race hard! MA